There has been an interesting convergence of events lately. In our family Bible reading, we started the book of Job. The last verse of chapter 1 reads: “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (ESV; NKJV). The NASV says, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” The NIV has: “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”
Job had lost his livestock. He had lost his work force. He lost his family. But in all of those calamities, Job did not charge God with wrong. The Hebrew reads he “did not give unseemliness” to God. Chou-Wee Pan, writing in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (pg 323) writes that “unseemliness” “connotes the idea of ‘express contempt’ for God.”
Hartley, in his commentary on Job, writes: “Mourning in silence, he [Job] gave his lips no opportunity to utter an angry curse or a cruel vindictive word. Thereby he honored God’s trust in him and demonstrated the falsity of the Satan’s taunts” (78).
In our family Bible reading, Jewell expressed amazement that Job responded to his catastrophes as he did. Indeed, it is remarkable. And in such a contrast with the way so many people today respond to similar crises. So many people today simply blame God. Rarely do you hear someone blame Satan. As we learn from Job, it was actually Satan who was responsible for the evil that fell on Job.
If every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights (James 1:17), why do we not also see that every evil and imperfect event comes from the Father of lies (2 Cor. 4:4)? Why not blame Satan? Why not blame those who have been influenced by Satan?
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The event that converged with this particular Bible reading was a discussion with a fellow Christian. He suffers from Parkinson’s disease which has been traced to his exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. My own father had health issues due to his exposure to Agent Orange, according to the Veterans Affairs.
Yet, this fellow Christian did not blame his Parkinson’s on God. He put the blame where it belongs: on evil. On sin. Man does this to himself. It is not God who does it; it is man, motivated or influenced by Satan.
When you hear someone blame God for evil, remind them that God is pure goodness (Mark 10:18). Satan is the “evil one” (Matthew 6:13; NRSV). When catastrophes happen, these events should push us hard away from Satan and toward the God who loves us.
–Paul Holland
